1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a water dispenser, and more particularly to a water dispenser for upright stand type water bottles which allows an easy installation of the water bottle. In addition, users may selectively purchase one from among those for cool water, hot water, or for both use.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, as the public's awareness of the impurities in the public water supply increases, bottled drinking water is widely used in offices and homes throughout the world. As a result, water dispensers which can rapidly heat or chill the water have been introduced to allow people to drink hot and cool water.
These conventional water dispensers are designed such that water bottles are inverted and placing them onto the top of the dispensers in such a manner that the open end of the water bottle contacts the top of the dispenser. Thus, the water contained in the water bottle falls down as users want.
However, since the bottle filled with water is too heavy to lift up to the top of the dispenser, many individuals, especially senior citizens are reluctant to make use of such a conventional type of water dispenser. In addition, since the water bottle must be placed on top of the cabinet with the bottle's open end down, it is inevitable that water will occasionally spill onto the dispenser and floor, which creates further inconvenience and risk of injury. This conventional design also does not provide any means for preventing the open end of the dispenser from being contaminated.
To overcome such a problem, there has been proposed a water dispenser in which a water bottle is installed in a lower portion of the main body of the dispenser. Thus, the water in the bottle is pumped to the reservoir which is provided at the upper portion of the dispenser.
Referring to FIG. 1, a dispenser 100 has faucets 102, 103 which are provided at the upper portion of a front face of a main body 101 thereof. A tray 104 is provided under faucets 102, 103, and a cabinet 105 and a door 107 are provided in the lower portion of dispenser 100.
A groove 106 for guiding the water bottle is formed at the bottom surface of cabinet 105, and door 107 has a plurality of elongated holes 108 for checking the water bottle in cabinet 105. Magnets 109, 109' for closing door 107 are provided respectively at a predetermined portion of door 107 and at the corresponding portion of main body 101. An operation switch 110 which is operated according to door 107 in order to control a suction tube carrying device which will be described later is provided at main body 101.
As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, if a pulley 112 is driven by a motor, a suction tube 111 is wound around or off pulley 112, to thereby elevate or descend suction tube 111.
Suction tube 111 consists of a buffer unit 111a for preventing pulley 112 from being twisted to a pump, and a winding unit 111b connected to buffer unit 111a and which is wound around pulley 112 in accordance with the rotation of pulley 112. A guiding groove 112' for allowing a smooth winding of suction tube 111 is formed along the periphery of pulley 112. In addition, pulley 112 has a perforation 112" for connecting buffer unit 111a and winding unit 111b so as to allow a smooth operation of winding unit 111b. To prevent any damage onto suction tube 111, buffer unit 111a is connected to winding unit 111b via tube 111c made up of a plastic or an aluminum having a high stiffness.
Reference numeral 113 denotes a band fastener for fixing suction tube 111 onto the front surface of pulley 112.
Operation of the water dispenser will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1, 3A, and 3B.
The water contained in a bottle 140 in cabinet 105 is pumped into a cool water reservoir 116 via suction tube 111 and a conduit 115. Subsequently, the water pumped into reservoir 116 flows into a hot water reservoir 118 via conduit 117. The water in reservoirs 116 and 118 is chilled or heated by a cooling element 119 or by a die-casting heater 120.
To minimize the transmittance of the heat from hot water reservoir 118 to cool water reservoir 116, a connector 117' provided at the upper portion of cool water reservoir 116 is made up of a metal, for example, a brass. In addition, a connector 117" provided at the upper portion of hot water reservoir 118 is made up of a plastic, and conduit 117 for connecting both connectors 117' and 117" is made up of a silicon rubber.
Float sensors 121, 122 for sensing the amount of water are provided inside of reservoirs 116, 118 so as to control the operation of a pump 114. If reservoirs 116, 118 are filled with water, a sensor signal is transmitted from float sensors 121, 122 to a control unit(not shown) so as to stop the operation of pump 114. If reservoirs 116, 118 are not filled with water, pump 114 is driven so as to pump the water from water bottle 140.
When the user opens door 107 in order to change the water bottle, switch 110 is operated so as to rotate pulley 112 by a motor 123. Thus, suction tube 111 elevates winding onto pulley 112.
When the elevation of suction tube 111 completes, the empty water bottle is replaced by a new water bottle, and door 107 is closed, to thereby press switch 110. Then, suction tube 111 descends towards the inside of the newly replaced water bottle.
At this time, armatures 126, 127 fixed at pulley 112 are in contact with micro-switches 124, 125 at the upper end portion of a pulley fixation bracket 128. Thus, micro-switches 124, 125 are operated so as to detect whether suction tube 111 has completed an elevation or a descending. Motor 123 is controlled by a control signal which is output from a control unit according to the operation of micro-switches 124 and 125.
Reference numeral 129 denotes a sealing cap for preventing water bottle 140 from being contaminated, and reference numeral 130 denotes an intake block.
However, such a conventional water dispenser has problems as explained below.
First, it is difficult to replace water bottles because the cabinet for accommodating water bottles has a limited space.
In addition, a cool water reservoir, a hot water reservoir, and a means for chilling or heating the water have to be provided to the water dispenser, and a device for elevating or descending an suction tube is required, which increases a manufacturing cost. A person who intends to use only either hot or cool water has to purchase such a conventional dual-use water dispenser.